Reduce your 2024 tax bill with these last-minute moves

As year-end approaches, there’s still time to slash your 2024 tax bill or boost your refund, financial advisors say.  

Typically, you can expect a tax refund when you overpay taxes throughout the year. Alternatively, there’s a tax bill when you haven’t paid enough.

Most 2024 tax strategies must be completed by Dec. 31, so there’s limited time to make last-minute moves. 

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After a strong year for the stock market, many investors won’t have tax-loss harvesting opportunities, which can turn portfolio losses into tax breaks.

It could also be too late to boost pretax 401(k) employee deferrals for 2024, which reduces your adjusted gross income.

But there are some key strategies still available, according to financial advisors.

If you have a high-deductible health plan, you can funnel money into a health savings account, or HSA, which offers an upfront tax deduction, among other benefits, experts say. 

For 2024, the HSA contribution limit is $4,150 for self-only coverage or $8,300 for family plans. The invested balance grows free of federal taxes and you can withdraw the money tax-free for qualified medical expenses.

You have until the tax deadline to make 2024 HSA deposits, but if you’re investing the balance, starting sooner gives you more time in the market. “You don’t have to wait,” said Tommy Lucas, a certified financial planner and enrolled agent at Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo in Orlando, Florida.     

“Get it invested and let the compound interest work for you,” he said.

You also have until the tax deadline for 2024 pretax individual retirement account contributions. But the deduction depends on your filing status, income and workplace retirement plan, so it’s better to wait until you’ve run tax projections for 2024, Lucas said.

Gifting profitable assets offers a “double tax advantage,” because you get a tax break and bypass capital gains taxes, said certified financial planner Rick Nott, managing director at Angeles Wealth Management in Santa Monica, California.

There’s growing interest in the strategy among cryptocurrency investors, with record gains for digital assets like bitcoin over the past year.

Typically, you can deduct the market value of the investment, as long as you’ve owned it for more than one year. You can claim a deduction capped at 30% of adjusted gross income for public charities.